Winding machine



Patented May 15, 1,951

UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE WINDING MACHINE Winthrop L. Perry, Wilton, N. H., assgnor, by mesne assignments, to Abbott Worsted Mills, Incorporated, Wilton, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application December 7, 1949, Serial No. 131,567

3 Claims.

ing units to discharge the filling-wound bobbin from winding position and to associate the thread from the supply package of the winding unit with a new empty bobbin, for winding thereon.

In machines of this type the traveling winding units customarily move to the right around the Wardly and the tip of each bobbin extending outwardly of the machine, with the several bobbins rotating in a clockwise direction as viewed from their tip ends. Such clockwise rotation of the bobbins produces what may be referred to as a right-hand wound bobbin.

During operation of the tending mechanism and prior to reception of a new empty bobbin by a winding unit, the wound bobbin is discharged from between the bobbin-holding centers of the winding unit. In usual operation the bobbin is received by a stationary plate of which the inner edge acts as a thread plow, and the bobbin then rolls along with the winding unit upon this plate. Because the travel of the winding units is toward the right, such rolling, which causes the bobbin to rotate, continues the right-hand or clockwise direction oi` rotation of the bobbin, tending to wind yarn thereon, or at least tending not to allow the wound yarn to unwind therefrom.

For certain uses it is desirable to produce on this same machine wound bobbins on which the thread is wound in the opposite direction, thatV is left-hand Wound bobbins that require to be rotated in a counterclockwise direction during winding. This reversal of direction of winding rotation from the usual direction can be readily accomplished by merely changing the connections from the source of three-phase current which drives the individual motors of the winding units.

However in such production of left-hand wound hobbins it is undesirable that the wound bobbins should be subjected to any tendency to rotate clockwise in the manner of the usual righthand wound bobbin in passing through the tending mechanism, because such clockwise rotation would unwind yarn therefrom and cause slackness, a tendency to tangle and tend to interfere with the operation of the tending mechanism in associating the yarn with the next new bobbin to be wound.

Accordingly the principal object of the invention is to provide a simple form of attachment for winding units of this type, adapted to operate4 n.. ou

2 f in conjunction lwith the automatic tending mechanism, to permit left-hand wound bobbins to pass through the automatic tending mechanism after discharge from their winding positions, Without tendency to be rotated in a direction which would unwind them.

Further advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from this specication and its accompanying drawings wherein the invention i.; is illustrated by way of example. machine with the base of each bobbin located in- In the accompanying drawings, i Fig. 1 is a plan view of the portion of an automatic iilling winding machine which includes the 35. ent invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, showing the approaching winding unit as somewhat farther advanced through the tending mechanism than the right-most unit in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. l, omitting certain parts;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional diagrammatic View taken on the line 6 4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4 but showing the winding unit as still farther advanced to a position at which the wound bobbin has been discharged frorn the tending mechanism.

The winding machine to which the invention is shown as applied includes a plurality of winding units such as indicated at I5 in Fig. l, movable by means of a chain I8 (Fig. l) in a closed path around the machine upon tracks consisting of upper and lower rails, I5 and Il.

Each winding unit may be individually driven by its own electric motor I9, such motor deriving its three-phase current through the frame of the machine and through suitable brushes contacting with stationary conductor bars 20, so as to wind a thread package on an individual bobbin B as the winding unit travels around the machine. As shown in Fig. l, the conductor bars 20 are interrupted in the region where winding is suspended, following completion of winding a bobbin i and before and during the changing of the bobbin by the winding unit tending mechanism.

Each winding unit is shown as provided near its lower end with a holder in the form of a. peg IDD (Fig. 2) for any suitable supply package, such as a spinning bobbin P (Fig. 2) from. which the lthread passes upwardly, between self-threading thread guides i2 and |03, between tension disks lil4, |64 and beneath the outer end of a swinging thread detector wire |01 to a traversing thread guide. assembly 23. K The detector wire 101, which 3 during normal winding is held by the thread in a somewhat higher position than shown in Fig. 2, is connected to any suitable stop mechanism for stopping winding in the event of exhaustion of the thread.

At the thread guide assembly 23 the thread T thence over and down through an inner thread guide eye 23b onto the winding bobbin B.

The bobbin B is held between inner and outer chucks or rotatable hollow centers 24 and 25, the inner center 24 being rotated by the motor I9 to rotate the bobbin.

The thread guide assembly 23 is preferably frictionally mounted for sliding movement upon a traverse rod 23c which is reciprocated with a short stroke of traverse by suitable traverse cam and linkage connections from the motor I3, During the winding of the bobbin the thread guide assembly 23 is progressively advanced along the rod 23, from the base of the bobbin Vtoward the tip, forinstance by feeler mechanism such as disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,377,367 or .by stationary guide mechanism which reacts on the. thread guide assembly of the traveling winding unit as disclosed in United States PatentNo. 2,362,455. In either case the progressive shifting of the Zone of traverse of the thread guide assembly 23 from near the base to near the tip of the bobbin provides the filling type of winding on the bobbin.

Upon completionv of a wound bobbin by the winding unit, or upon breakage or exhaustion of the thread, winding is stopped and the individual motor of the unit is deenergized by breaking the circuit to the motor, for instance by lifting of the units brushes from the conductor bars 20V through use of control mechanism such as employed in connection with the machine of Figs. 13 to 23 of said Patent No. 2,377,367. In addition since the conductor bars 23 are interrupted a suitable distance in advance of the tending mechanisrn, it is assured that the motor of each winding unit will always have had time to stop before the winding unit reaches the tending mechanism. Thus each winding unit enters from the left of Fig. lv in an inactive condition but still holding the wound bobbin in winding position between the vcenters 2li and 25.

As indicated above the automatic tending mechanism is adapted to discharge the bobbin B from winding position and to associate the thread from the supply package P with a new empty bobbin.

The winding unit, traveling from left to right in Fig. l, rst encounters-a stationary horizontal lower plow plate 32 of which the inner edge is adapted to plow the run of thread which extends from the supply package P to the thread guide assembly 23 over toward the inner center 24 or chuck and beyond the range of a cutter, subsequently described, so that in the changing of the winding bobbin B the thread from the supply package P is left threaded through the eyes 23a and 23b of the thread guide assembly.

The outer chuck or center 25 of each unit is retractable to discharge the wound bobbin B from winding position by means of a crank arm 30 on the winding unit and a stationary abutment 3| shown in Fig. l. Upon the crank arm 3G encountering the abutment 3|, the wound bobbin will drop from the chucks or centers.

In machines of this type, as normally constructed in the past, the wound bobbin B, dropped from the chucks or centers, would rest upon the stationary plow plate 32 and be rolled therealong, by the action of a vertical pusher plate 35, to the right-hand end of plow plate 32. In the case of a right-hand wound bobbin, the rotation accompanying this rolling continued in effect, the winding rotation of the bobbin, tending to wind thread thereon, and this was unobjectionable and was in fact advantageous in cases where it was desired that the last part of the thread be wound in an open spiral extending back to the base of the bobbin.

In the illustrated machine, in which it will be understood that the bobbins B are wound lefthand, by a counterclockwise rotation of the bobbin by the driven center 24, such rolling of the bobbin is prevented by this invention.

The individual winding unit is provided with an attachment comprising a tray 53 pivotally `mounted at its forward portion upon a rod 5I and adapted to ride over the upper surface of the lower plow plate 32 as shown in Fig. 3 and receive the discharged bobbin B thereon and separate such bobbin from the lower plow plate 32. As a consequence the discharged bobbin B passes through the tending mechanism without the tendency to roll that is normally exerted by the plow plate 32 in usual machines of this kind. The bobbin at this stage may bear in part against the'pusher plate 35 that is ordinarily used to push Y the bobbin along plow plateA 32.

Following discharge of the wound bobbin B from the chucks or centers, the thread guide assembly 23 is shifted to a position above the inner or base chuck 2li by engagement of an upstanding roller 42 of its thread guide assembly with an included stationary guide element 44a (Figs. 1 and 2).

The lower plate 32 has meanwhile acted, as indicated above, to plow over to the region of the base chuck 24 that run of thread which extends from the supply package P to the thread guide assembly.

A stationary upper plow plate 53 then engages the thread between the thread guide and the discharged bobbin on tray 50 and acts in conjunction with the thread guide to position this thread across the face of the inner chuck 24 as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

With the thread so held the winding unit reaches empty bobbin-feeding mechanism indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1 at d and which may be that of Fig. 2l of said Patent No. 2,377,367, at which an empty bobbin B is held in position for the outer chuck 25 to close upon this empty bobbin B and withdraw it from the bobbin-feeding mechanism as the crank arm 30 reaches the right end of abutment 3l. The thread extending from the base chuck 24 to the discharged fullyr wound bobbin B in tray 50 enters in between the blades of a cutter disposed beneath a cut-away inner edge portion 53a of upper plow plate 53, the pivoted blade of such cutter being indicated at 60 in Fig. 1. The thread of the fully wound bobbin Vis thus severed from the thread which is now clamped between the new bobbin B and' inner chuck 24.

The lower plow plate 32, as indicated above. has plowed the run of thread which extends from the supply package P to the thread guide so far to the right in Fig. 2 or away from the observer in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 that this run of thread is beyond the range of the pivoted blade 30 of the cutter. Thus when the cutter operates, this run of thread extending from the supply package to the thread guide is left intact and continuous with the thread portion that is clamped between the new bobbin and the inner center 24.

Shortly after the actuation of the cutter, the winding unit reaches the position indicated diagrammatically at Fig. 5 and the tray 50 reaches the right end of the lower plow plate 32 and swings downwardly until checked by contact with a horizontally extending rod 36 on the winding unit. The discharged bobbin B drops from the tending mechanism into any suitable chute, receptacle, or bobbin-handling mechanism. The tray 50 remains in its lower position such as shown in Fig. 5 during the winding of the next bobbin and until the winding unit next encounters the lower plow plate 32 and the tray is lifted by the plate to a bobbin-holding position.

It will be observed that the pivoted tray 59, which passes between the upper plow plate 53 and lower plow plate 32 does not interfere with the action of these parts in associating the thread from the supply package with the new winding bobbin, in condition for winding, but does so separate a left-hand wound bobbin from the lower plow plate that there is no tendency for the thread to be unwound from the bobbin in passing through the tending mechanism. The tray 5D can readily be applied to existing machines which are intended to wind right-hand wound bobbins to convert the machine to the winding of left-hand wound bobbins, without interference with the operation of the tending mechanism.

I claim:

1. In a traveling spindle winding machine of the type including a plurality of traveling winding units each including a center for holding a winding bobbin during winding of yarn from a supply package, the machine including means for discharging the wound bobbins of the successive units from their centers and means for supplying fresh bobbins thereto, and a stationary plate beneath the position of discharge of bobbins from the centers: an attachment for the individual winding units, adapted to facilitate the winding of bobbins by counterclockwise rotation, said attachment comprising a tray pivotally mounted on the winding unit beneath the winding bobbin and in position to ride over said stationary plate and separate the discharged bobbin therefrom, said tray, upon reaching the end of said stationary plate, being swingable to allow the bobbin to drop therefrom.

2. In a traveling spindle winding machine of the type including a plurality of traveling winding units each including a center for holding a winding bobbin during winding of yarn from a supply package, the machine including means for discharging the wound bobbins of the successive units from their centers and means for supplying fresh bobbins thereto, and a stationary plate beneath the position of discharge of bobbins from the centers: an attachment for the individual winding units, adapted to facilitate the winding of bobbins by counterclockwise rotation, said attachment comprising a tray pivotally mounted at its forward portion upon the winding unit beneath the winding bobbin and in position to ride over said stationary plate and separate the discharged bobbin therefrom, said tray, upon reaching the end of said stationary plate, being swingable to allow the bobbing to drop therefrom.

3. In a traveling spindle winding machine of the type including a plurality of traveling winding units each including a center for holding a winding bobbin during winding of yarn from a supply package, the machine including means for discharging the wound bobbins of the successive units from their centers and means for supplying fresh bobbins thereto, a stationary upper plow plate shaped to plow a portion of the thread extending from the thread guide to the discharged wound bobbin into the region of said center in preparation for engagement between said center and a new bobbin, a cutter adapted to cut such portion of thread between the fresh -bobbin and the discharged wound bobbin, and

a lower stationary plow plate located below the upper plow plate and adapted to plow the thread extending from the supply package to the thread guide beyond the range of action of the cutter: an attachment for the individual winding units, adapted to facilitate the winding of bobbins by counterclockwise rotation, said attachment comprising a tray pivotally mounted on the winding unit beneath the winding bobbin and in position to move through the space between said plow plates and ride over said lower plow plate and separate the discharged bobbin therefrom, said tray, upon reaching the end of said lower plow plate, being swingable to allow the bobbin to drop therefrom.

WINTHROP L. PERRY.

No references cited. 

